REAL LIFE FOOD BANK STORIES FROM ACROSS THE UK

For Charlotte the food bank was a life saver... 

21 year-old college student Charlotte had not eaten properly for weeks and could not afford gas to heat her flat when she came to the foodbank in January. After leaving state care she was determined to make something of her life and was funding herself through college. Working two evening jobs to make ends meet, she was made redundant from both within a month. As a 21-year-old in full time education with no children she did not qualify for benefits. She sold everything she had and, with nowhere else to turn, she asked her local councillor for help; they referred her to the foodbank. When she arrived she was ill, dehydrated and in the first stages of malnutrition. For Charlotte, the foodbank was a life saver. She says she has no idea what she would have done without it. She was so impressed by the support she received that she began volunteering at the foodbank.

Couple forced to borrow soup to feed 18-month-old daughter

When temperatures plummet in winter, foodbank clients across the UK are often forced to choose between eating and heating. For Anne-Marie and Danny, 22, a delay in benefits hit at the same time as Danny was off work with flu. He received no sick pay and finances got so tight that they were faced with eviction as well as having no money for food.

The couple and their 18-month-old daughter, Tia, were living and sleeping in one room to reduce heating bills. They resorted to borrowing a tin of soup from their neighbours to stop little Tia going hungry. When the foodbank delivered an emergency foodbox to the delighted family there was ice on the inside of their windows.

‘I don't know what we would have done next if it wasn’t for the foodbank' says Danny.

Hillingdon foodbank helps homeless Afghanistan hero

Lieutenant Kieran McCrystal, 25, walked barefoot to Hillingdon foodbank after his life fell apart due to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder following his time serving in Afghanistan. Coming to the foodbank has turned his life around.

On leaving the army, Kieran struggled to find a job and was evicted from his house after spending his life savings on rent, too proud to claim benefits. A new father, his PTSD forced him to split with the mother of his child, whom he had been saving up to marry. After spending two weeks on the streets, Lieutenant McCrystal, decided that he had to turn his life around. He went to the YMCA who provided temporary accommodation, but Kieran still needed food and was pointed to Hillingdon foodbank in Uxbridge for help.

The foodbank highlighted his predicament through their local newspaper.

Within 24 hours, Lt McCrystal was placed in accommodation. Now all he is seeking to complete his turnaround, is a job.

Skipping school to avoid embarrassment of no lunch money

A primary school boy from Gloucester stopped attending school recently because he could not face the embarrassment of having no money for lunch. On visiting his home to deliver a foodbank parcel, the school’s liaison officer discovered there was no food, except a little oats and milk. The mother’s purse was empty. The mother of two explained that her husband had left her and that the benefits were in his name. He had not been contributing towards child care since leaving and when she informed the Benefits Agency all benefits were stopped, including child benefit, because of her ‘change in circumstances’. The support worker estimated that it would take two to four months for the benefits to be re-assessed.

Officially, additional benefits like free school meals are not available to children unless parents can prove that they are in receipt of benefits. Fortunately, the foodbank was able to step in to help, enabling the boy to return to school.

Read these and more real life stories at trusselltrust.org the official website for Trussell Trust